Andrew Keh for the New York Times:

In a sport that clings to its traditions — from managers wearing uniforms to the playing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch — one time-honored feature at the ballpark has taken an absurd turn, at least for the game’s purists: the ceremonial first pitch.

I’m torn. The first pitch is a time-honored tradition that is being sullied by corporate sponsorship. On the other hand, the Phillie Phanatic’s Hatfield hot dog launcher holds a special place in my heart and has nothing to do with the game either.

Kyle Hill over at Scientific American’s Overthinking It blog breaks down what would happen if viewers drank a teaspoon of alcohol every time a lens flare appears on screen in Star Trek Into Darkness:

With so many lens flares, you’d be sipping on your drink about eight times per minute. At this rate, neither men nor women would make it out alive. But because body weight plays a big role in [blood alcohol content], men would at least make it past the first act before their breathing fails. Men make it 85 minutes before trekking into darkness while women only make it about half that. That’s what happens when you beam over five liters of alcohol into your system.

Jon de la Vega on his Github project page:

I like the look of Omnifocus 2 but it’s not ready for everyday use so I decided to make a theme for OF1 with the renewed look.

I’ve had access to the OmniFocus 2 “private test” for about a month, but right now it’s not usable on a daily basis (for me, at least). This theme really dresses OF1 up like OF2 in a way that is, surprisingly, nice. If you want to get a feel for where Omni is taking the design but retain the functionality you’re used to, this theme works quite nicely.

Caleb Crain at the New Yorker’s Page-Turner blog:

…leaving the theatre after “Upstream Color,” I felt reasonably confident that I understood what had happened, plotwise. “But what’s it about?” my husband asked. I felt much less sure about that, but as I thought it over in the days that followed, and as I pulled a few transcendentalist classics off the shelf, I began to wonder if I’d been watching a movie by the premier Thoreauvian of our time.

This is easily the best piece of writing on Shane Carruth’s film yet.

Brooks Barnes, reporting for the New York Times, on Vinny Bruzzese’s screenplay data-crunching company:

For as much as $20,000 per script, Mr. Bruzzese and a team of analysts compare the story structure and genre of a draft script with those of released movies, looking for clues to box-office success.

Used to be you got into the movie business to make movies.

Here’s a fun list I put together for GOOD. Spoiler: Rear Window took the top honor (duh).

This morning Stu Maschwitz announced Slugline, a Fountain screenwriting app. Slugline (check out the official site) has been in development almost since the earliest rumblings of Fountain. I have had the great privilege of using it throughout the beta, watching it grow into the powerful app it is today.

Slugline allows you to write in Fountain while making your script look like a formatted screenplay. It’s like Final Draft without all the headaches. It’s magic. And since your documents are always in plain text, you can take them with you anywhere.

I’ll be publishing a more detailed piece soon, so stay tuned. Slugline is on the Mac App Store For $39.99. You could buy it six times over and still be short of buying Final Draft. Go get it¹ and write a movie.

{::nomarkdown}

Brett Terpstra on the new update to his app, Marked:

You’ll also notice that Marked now shows up in “Open in” menus throughout the system. This will be handy with Ulysses 3, especially when working with “external sources.”

A few people noted this issue on Twitter and on my post detailing a Ulysses to Marked workflow. All should be well now.

If you write in Markdown you should own Marked. If you haven’t already, go grab a copy.¹

Nell Casey for Gothamist:

Perhaps because so many German immigrants settled in the state in the mid-19th century, Texas has a strong craft brewing scene and relationship to beer. Here are some of our favorite breweries we wish would distribute to New York City…

Suck it, NYC! Great list.

I joined my pals Ryan Gallagher and Josh Brunsting to talk about SXSW Film a month ago when it ended. The episode just went live. Give it a listen and relive the glory days of mid-March, 2013.

I love talking movies with these guys. Go give it a listen.